1, 2, 3, 4, 5, now May’s done, did I survive;? Well given I’m writing this, the answer is obviously yes. But, overall I feel like I have been a little bit quieter than usual this month and much of that is down to some additional travel for work (more details below), and that I have been focussed on a project that I have not yet released any details about. Very much feeling like the swan gliding across the water with the feet frantically paddling below, but all-in-all, it has been a month of lots of activity, even if most of it was behind-the-scenes stuff.
ThoughtAsylum
While I have been quite busy making stuff this past month, blog posts were definitely, and consciously, not so high on the agenda. I did get one blog post published in May, and that was my 5 Tips for Posting on a Technology Forum. This is a post that has been simmering away for years now and gathers together most of the frustrations I have when people post on technology forums. It was certainly a bit of a cathartic outlet, but moreover I hope that it will be something people find useful and that can be used as a quick reference for a handful of considerations that can be shared with forum users. The question is how can I get the message to the people who need to read this? If you know someone who would benefit from the tips I shared in this post, please do pass them the link.
Forums
It has felt like a pretty sedate month on the forums with a few interesting topics, but generally things being quiet. I suspect it is the calm before the WWDC storm.
One thing long term followers may have noticed is that I have not posted my annual pre-WWDC Automation Wish post on the Automators forum. After years of giving people one wish via my annual question, I have finally given up on the ability of all (most do, but somehow not all) respondents to comprehend the request, let alone the general guidance I put in such posts. I simply don’t have the headspace to try and explain yet again why two or more wishes is antithetical to the whole question, or why I impose guidelines to help constrain that year’s topic. I don’t want to try and show that the fun is in trying to come up with something inspirational and perhaps clever, rather than trying to game the question or go off on a tirade about Apple and automation. For this year at least, so rests my annual challenge to others. At best, consider it a year off to consider extended reality headsets of the fruity variety.
Drafts
I gave one user some advice on an API error when using ChatGPT with Drafts.
As is often the case someone prompted ChatGPT to write a script for them and the resulting script did not work. I did my best to explain to them what the issues were and provide an alternative approach. Large language model tools are brilliant in the right context, but so many people seem to use them as replacements for people rather than tools to bolster their own existing skills, which can lead to unanticipated results for them and anticipated results for those looking in from the outside.
A user was looking for a way to know if ChatGPT was taking a long time to run, and a new feature will help with that.
There was some discussion about identifying actions with updates available. I rolled my own solution with the ThoughtAsylum Action Groups.
One user was looking for a way to append tomorrow’s calendar events to the current draft, and as is often the case, there was already something in the Drafts directory to help with that.
I pointed one user to some inbuilt features for launching actions as well as my “Drafts Slash Command” functionality. Personally, my more global use of Paletro is the way I tend to do this day to day as it is just something I can make use of in so many places.
There is an interesting feature request for control over session restoration.
I responded to a point about folders being a concept as well as part of a file system as in Ulysses’s database where I go into detail about grouping and database functionality, as well as Ulysses terminology, constraints, and its overall paradigm difference.
One Drafts user was loosing text after exporting the text to Microsoft Word. As is often the case, they did not provide all of the necessary information, or follow up when support was given, but overall I was unable to reproduce their results and they did not provide an example of failure.
A problem with spell check not working in Drafts on the Mac turned out to be an issue I was also experiencing (and hadn’t noticed). Fortunately, I was able to find a solution to reenable it for both of us. If your spell check in Drafts is not working when it is enabled, this post is definitely one to check out.
There was a nice little collaboration to get Jacob’s diff-ing on Drafts versions back up and running.
Once again a user needed some extra support in understanding workspaces, and how they are filters, not folders.
Evernote is maintaining its death spiral with a new mysterious Evernote API limit and zero communication (or documentation). I used to be a huge user and advocate for Evernote and now it just makes me sad to see it become such a dumpster fire of a platform.
Finally, there was a question about creating and maintaining Drafts lists that can be added to. The discussion highlighted some incorrect documentation, and once again someone wanting to pay for support from a Drafts expert when there’s a whole community of freely available support. I always find that a little curious outside of business.
Automators
One user who has a history of posting brief and random queries wants a tool like Keyboard Maestro for their iPad, which simply isn’t a realistic option.
I outline a solution for a Hazel user to automatically convert iApple voice memos to MP3 format.
I helped another Hazel user figure out why their shortcut adds a photo multiple times to Photos, and how to resolve the issue.
I helped one iOS Pushcut user with a network address issue.
I created a full e-mail merge from CSV solution in Shortcuts for a user, and also picked up on a bug fix by the Shortcuts team at Apple that was recently released.
I waded in on another e-mail merge utilising Apple Mail and Microsoft Excel
Another topic again yielded the appearance of a Shortcuts fix, this time it was a fix for the default date/time in an Ask for Input action.
I made some suggestions for automate the sending of Email at a specific time and date.
I also created a shortcut for a user to be able to choose a single item at a time from a list, in a specified order.
I created an Apple Shortcuts shortcut to distinguish between for periods in a year for a new forum user.
There was what feels like a rather unusual request to toggle JavaScript on/off in Safari with Shortcuts.
I provided a solution and some background for opening a file in another app when it is being shown in Preview.
Following up on a printing automation topic, I made a suggestion about how to wake a printer from the command line.
I offered some advice on processing arguments for Shortcuts.
I suggested Keyboard Maestro as a potential solution to some Logic Pro automation.
I provided an approach to having an Apple Shortcuts shortcut behave differently based on what device it was run on.
If you ever need to batch export PowerPoint files to PDF, then my response on this topic probably has you covered - for Mac & PC at least.
Lastly, I also provided some tips and questions to some other posters on the Episode 126: Safari Automation topic.
Other
One of my Alfred workflows, Slink, a workflow for working with Brett Terpstra’s SearchLink utility was included in the Alfred gallery. It also received several new features including a way to add your own custom overrides. This was something I was doing in Keyboard Maestro previously, but after a prompt from the Alfred team, I added some hotkey triggers, and found the maintenance felt a little more convenient utilising Alfred and so switched my own more bespoke case over to something I could easily expand and share with everyone.
I also updated several other of my Alfred workflows.
I updated my relatively new Read the 🤐 Manual workflow to correct some wording left over from a copy and paste.
I got around to fixing a legacy Alfred issue with the diagnostics page in theConductor workflow for Keyboard Maestro
I updated myBypass workflow for Apple Shortcuts with an option to use the ID for a shortcut in URLs rather than the name (the ID remains constant when renaming a shortcut).
I also spent some time in London at learning events this month. I spent a couple of days at the London ExCeL for the Learning Technologies 2023 (London) event where the AI bandwagon was definitely out in force. While I definitely see many uses for responsible use of AI in learning, the number of organisations that felt bolting on an option to create text content via ChatGPT was a good use of AI was staggering. I guess for many it was table stakes, but it left me quite sad to see so many in the industry making such a big deal of it. Other than ChatGPT, I think the not quite so AI that stole the show was Titan.
I also spent the day at a SAP and TalenTeam Learning and Skills forum. Focusing purely on SAP technologies, it was a great opportunity to not only see some of the upcoming plans from SAP, but also to speak to other SAP customers and discover where they are on their learning and skills journeys. Skill ontologies are definitely the one to watch for 2023/24 on the SAP customer roadmaps. Also, a gold star for anyone who can spot me in the photo below - I am in there 😉
Upcoming
In the last few monthly updates I have mentioned a “new” project, which is now very much an ongoing project. While I am still attempting to get my head fully round the scale of this project, I have definitely made a huge step forward this past month concerning the volume of ‘things to do’. There is little doubt in my mind that I am still only a fraction of the way into where I want it too be, but I expect to release the project as a work in progress before I have it u"complete" and with any luck, it will be an ongoing project for a good while to come, having no “finished” milestone in sight. It is just a case of getting it to where I feel it is a viable offering to a particular community, and that’s something I fully expect to be able to do later this year. But even after sinking many hours of effort into it, I have many more hours to expend.
As always, thank you to everyone who has bought me a coffee. Each cup supports the sorts of efforts I list out above. From helping people in the online community via forums, and writing blog posts on various topics, to providing automations, and whatever this latest project turns out to be. Your generosity enables my cup to runneth over with coffee foam.